Iowa lawmakers could throw out more than five years of work in an effort to undo the Department of Education's decision to award a state testing contract to someone other than the University of Iowa.

An Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced a bill Tuesday that automatically awards a testing contract to the Iowa Testing Programs.

"It looks like we're starting over again," said state Sen. Herman Quirmbach.

The Ames Democrat was the lone vote against the proposal, which advances to the Senate Education Committee. It was pulled from the committee's agenda Tuesday and is expected to be discussed in early March.

The Iowa House already approved the legislation on a 95 to 3 vote last week.

The state has twice selected another vendor to create the statewide exams Iowa public school children take to measure progress.

A state task force selected the Smarter Balanced exams in 2014, but funding and political snags ultimately halted the tests being implemented in Iowa schools.

Testing company NCS Pearson, which would administer the University of Iowa's new exams, challenged the 2017 contract over questions about the bidding process. In mid-February, an administrative law judge upheld the state's selection process and its chosen winner.

"The judge's decision reinforces that the state ran a fair, open and objective competitive-bidding process," said Ryan Wise, director of the Iowa Department of Education, told the Senate subcommittee.

But lawmakers have said they want to avoid potential litigation associated with those contracts.

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Ryan Wise, director of the Iowa Department of Education, prepares to testify before a Senate education subcommittee on a selection process in awarding a testing contract. State lawmakers are considering a bill that would select a different vendor.(Photo: Mackenzie Ryan / The Des Moines Register)

The meeting became heated at times, with state Sen. Mark Chelgren, a Republican from Ottumwa, accusing state education leaders of bias in how they selected the AIR exams.

"You’re weighting your tests in certain ways, and I think, as a Department of Education, you should know better," he said.

Chelgren told the Register he was concerned "the deck was stacked" through the bidding process.

The AIR proposal selected by the state received 531 out of 700 possible points on a state grading scale. The bid price was $36.3 million. Pearson received 430 points and had a cost of $21.7 million.

"It may have been stacked in a manner that was consistent with past procedures, but that's not the goal," Chelgren said. "The goal is to have the best bang for our buck for our students."

Vocal opposition

Multiple people testified against the bill. At one point, onlookers broke into applause and Chelgren pounded the table to quiet the room.

"Why is the Legislature making these education decisions?" Johnston parent Shanda Carstens asked. "Why are we no longer following the recommendations of educators? Is this cost? Is this an Iowa City thing? Is this a stand against the Common Core?"

"As a parent, I'm having a really hard time determining what the motive can be," she said.

Ames school board member Lewis Rosser testified that exams should be chosen based on value — not just on cost.

"If you're getting better data from the test that you can use in that class ... some schools will choose to invest in that," Rosser said.

It's been years since the state has adopted a new statewide exam, and the current Iowa Assessment no longer matches what students are expected to learn.

Iowa students have taken the Iowa Assessments now in use since the 2011-12 school year. The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, which was given before, dates back to 1935.

They are "kind of a joke among my friends and among several of my teachers," Hoover High senior Kevin Li said.

That's a concern because the U.S. Department of Education gives Iowa $225 million a year to have a peer-reviewed state assessment in place. That money is distributed to local school districts. About $20 million goes to Des Moines Public Schools alone.

"An extra $5 is a drop of a bucket compared to the $20 million," said Mary Grinstead, director of assessment, data and evaluations in Des Moines. She expressed concern about losing the federal money.

'Proof of concept'

Leaders from the Iowa Department of Education said that the best proposal, in terms of both cost and technical value, was selected in the bidding process.

The University of Iowa's exam is only a "proof of concept," while AIR's exam has already passed peer review and is aligned with learning standards already in place in Iowa schools.

"There would be clear differences," said Jay Pennington, a state education bureau chief.

Keith Saunders, who represented the university, told senators that's because a new exam would be custom-made for Iowa.

"This is not an off-the-shelf product taken from another state," Saunders said. It would be "written by Iowa teachers, piloted by Iowa students and specifically aligned with Iowa standards."

When asked about the impact of losing the exam, Saunders said it would be a financial hit to the Iowa Testing Programs, but the hit would not be severe because testing products developed there are sold for use in other states and countries.

Chelgren told the Register another issue, besides cost, is who makes the final decision.

"Do we turn everything over to the executive branch and let them basically do whatever they want, without input from the Legislature," he said. "Or do we want to say: 'The Legislature is trying to set the criteria here; you can't cheat.'"

When asked if lawmakers are favoring an Iowa-based exam, he said there are advantages that should be considered.

"If the test is managed here at the University of Iowa, and in the Iowa realm, if we run into flaws or problems along the way, we can easily address that," Chelgren said.